Bude 3

Tavistock 1st XI 3

AFTER a poor performance at home to the Bude men's first XI, Tavistock men's first XI hockey team were apprehensive as they travelled to Bude for the last away league fixture of the year.

The match set off at a rapid pace with Tavistock piling the pressure on the Bude defence who gave away many short corners.

Eventually a tactical penalty corner strike by Phil Edwards beat both the defenders and the goal keeper to put Tavistock one ahead.

Bude were quick to respond and after some skillful play Tavistock found themselves 3-1 down at half-time.

Lethbridge provided a commanding half-time team talk and Tavistock restarted in a determined manner. After some well drilled linking play through the centre of the park, Heard picked up the ball just outside the D and skilfully picked his way through the defence to finish with a masterful stroke that the left the keeper motionless.

With continued pressure on the Bude defence the short corners continued to provide opportunities for drawing even, Tom Honey striking the far post from a well disguised short pass from Lethbridge. In the closing minutes John Barratt picked up a stray shot at one of the penalty corners and, turning on a sixpence, buried the ball in the net to level the scores.

Training starts again on Thursday January 8 at 7pm at the Kelly College astro pitch — all ages (7 upwards) welcome.